44.
On August 29, 1994, Commissioner Jorge Luis Piazza and three agents of the Second
Sectional Police Precinct of La Plata, province of Buenos Aires, visited the scene of the
crime. During this procedure, the sitting judge of the La Plata Judicial Department was
advised, and the presence of the Special Technical Investigations Service (SEIT) of the
province of Buenos Aires was required. A short while later, members of this service arrived
with experts in chemical appraisals, and in ballistics, mapping, photography and
fingerprinting, and a forensic physician, together with the sitting judge of Criminal and
Correctional Court No. 5 of La Plata, province of Buenos Aires, who ordered the experts to
perform the corresponding procedures and, finally, the transfer of the remains for their
subsequent forensic examination. 53 The autopsy was performed the same day by a SEIT
forensic physician. 54
A.1. Preliminary investigation stage
45.
On August 29, 1994, the criminal case for the crime of murder was opened under file
No. 10,888 before Criminal and Correctional Court No. 5, 55 under the national Criminal Code
of Argentina (Law 11,179 T.O. 1984 updated) and the Code of Criminal Procedure of the
province of Buenos Aires (Law 3,589). 56 Commissioner Jorge Luis Piazza of the Second
Police Precinct of La Plata, province of Buenos Aires, was in charge of the investigation, with
the collaboration of an operational group from the La Plata Departmental Investigations
Directorate headed by an Inspector. 57 During the investigation, two eyewitnesses of the
events were identified, a man and a woman, and the following procedures were carried out,
inter alia: (a) from August 30 to September 23, 1994, the Commissioner in charge of the
investigation and the investigating judge received different statements, including those of
two adolescents who reported that, under threat from federal police agents, they had made
testimonial statements in which they had falsely implicated two “boys” in the murder of
Assistant Commissioner Gutiérrez; 58 (b) on September 22, 1994, a reconstruction of the
crime was conducted before the investigating judge, with the collaboration of the male
eyewitness and in the presence of Commissioner Piazza; 59 (c) on September 22, 1994, the
testimony of the two eyewitnesses was received by the investigating judge; 60 (d) on
53
Cf. Record of site inspection of August 29, 1994, Second Police Precinct of La Plata (file of annexes to the
pleadings and motions brief, folios 1705 to 1710).
54
Cf. Forensic examination of August 29, 1994 (file of annexes to the pleadings and motions brief, folios
1717 to 1720).
55
Cf. Decision of December 28, 2006, of Transition Court No. 2 of the La Plata Judicial Department (file of
annexes to the submission brief, folio 300); Decision of December 30, 2009, of Court of Guarantees No. 5 of the La
Plata Judicial Department (file of annexes to the submission brief, folio 319), and Administrative Inquiry file 35718-000001/94, Ministry of the Interior of the Argentine Federal Police (annexes to the pleadings and motions brief,
folios 2212, 2217 and 2270).
56
Article 3 of Law 12,059 of December 11, 1997, established that “[c]ases pending at March 1, 1998, shall
continue to be processed pursuant to the provisions of Law 3,589 […], until their conclusion. These cases must be
concluded before January 1, 2000. After this date, they shall be processed in accordance with the new Code (Law
11,922).” Available at: http://www.gob.gba.gov.ar/intranet/digesto/PDF/l12059.pdf. However, article 1 of Law
13,153 of December 18, 2003, later substituted article 3 of Law 12,059 establishing that “cases pending at March
1, 1998, shall continue to be processed until they have concluded, pursuant to the provisions of Law 3,589”.
Available at: http://www.gob.gba.gov.ar/legislacion/legislacion/l-13153.html.
57
Cf. Testimony of March 31, 2005, before judicial investigators (file of annexes to the pleadings and
motions brief, folio 1966).
58
According to the Court’s case file at least nine statements were received (file of annexes to the pleadings
and motions brief, folios 1713 to 1715, 1730 to 1732, 1722 to 1724, 1726 to 1728, 1740, 1749 to 1754, 2039,
2098 to 2100, and 2101 to 2102).
59
Cf. Record of reconstruction of the crime of September 22, 1994, before Criminal and Correctional Court
No. 5 (file of annexes to the pleadings and motions brief, folios 1737 and 1738).
60
113).
Cf. Testimony of two eyewitnesses (file of annexes to the submission brief, folios 107 and 108, and 111 to
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